Bean's Mama
by JCWarriorCats
Summary: Everyone knows about the Papas of Rotterdam, but what is a Papa without a Mama? Robin is an older kid, earning her name by stealing food from the richer to give to the littler kids. Her only true friend on the streets, is none other then the manipulative Achilles. Will Robin's world shatter when Bean's plan unfolds and shows the true demon in her best friend? Please R&R T 4 Cursing


**"You think you found somebody, so suddenly my program gets the axe?"**

**"It's not about the kid that Graff found. It's about the low quality you've been finding."**

**"We knew it was long odds. But the kids I'm working with are actually fighting a war just to stay alive."**

**"Your kids are so malnourished that they suffer serious mental degradation before you even begin testing them. Most of them haven't formed any human bonds, they're so messed up they can't get through a day without finding something they can steal, break, or disrupt."**

**"They also represent possibility, as all children do."**

**"That's just the kind of sentimentality that discredits your whole project in the eyes of the IF."**

The girl stood, poised at the top of the wall that wasn't a part of the rubble just in front of her. A bag hung in her hand as she scanned the area for danger. She couldn't be any more than twelve or thirteen, but she could still sense the danger all around her. Seeing no enemies, she clamped her jaws around the bag in her hand so she could use both hands to slowly lower herself to the ground. She landed softly, stumbling a little and rubbed her weak knee.

She sighed softly and moved like a shadow as she advanced toward her destination. She stopped by her hiding place and pulled a seemingly intact brick out of the building's wall. She put a hand in the bag and placed a loaf of bread in for her to eat later. She then placed the brick securely back in place and scurried along, looking at the contents left in the bag. _Just enough_, she thought to herself proudly.

"Hey little birdy, sing me a song." A voice came to her ears and a growl crossed the girl's lips. She whirled to face her caller.

"Achilles shut up! I can't get caught." She hissed through her teeth quietly. The twelve year old boy limped over to her and peeked into the bag.

"Oh come on, just a crumb? I'm starving." The boy pleaded, grinning. The girl looked in her bag then back at the boy. She set the bag down; giving a motion that said 'wait' with her hand. She pulled the brick back out again and took the small loaf out. She split it in half and gave him the bigger half.

"I have to give the rest to the kids." She answered as he raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and took it, who knows if he was grateful.

"Robin if you spent less time feeding those little twerps and spent more time feeding yourself you would probably be the most well fed out of all of us." He got out through a mouthful of bread. The girl, Robin, had been named by a woman named Helga who had been told about her and how she stole from the people who lived in the more prosperous part of town and gave the food to the children who were often shoved aside by the bigger kids. Automatically she thought of how Robin Hood who stole from the rich to give to the poor and named her after the thieving hero.

"I can't watch anyone starve. You know that, besides I eat enough. And if I did keep all this food to myself I would be so fat." She joked, putting her half of the bread back in her hiding place and picked up her bag again.

"Robin I know when you go hungry. If you don't have enough for you and all the kids you don't eat. It's troubling. Especially since the other big kids have been trying to beat the crap out of you for it." He lectured. She only tolerated it because Achilles had been her only real friend out here since she could remember. Both the bottom of the food chain when it came to the kids without a crew they bonded and learned how to work together to stay alive. Due to Achilles limp he was no match for some of the big kids and Robin was a girl who didn't sell out to perverts for her body, making her an unprotected target.

"Achilles, are we really going to go through this again?" she snapped, swinging the bag over her shoulder like Santa clause did for Christmas. He finished off his bread before answering.

"Guess not. I'll leave you to your charity work. See you later, maybe. Don't get killed ok?" he waved over his shoulder as he left, she rolled her eyes at him. She headed off in the opposite direction.

She walked for a while, slinking past ally after ally, avoiding detection by the other life forms she came across. She finally stopped in a place that held a group of small children. "Ho Poke!" Robin smiled at the nine year old keeping watch. The children all looked over at Robin then they scurried to her. She laughed as they looked up at her with big eyes and smiling faces. They knew what she had. She instead though, turned to Poke and gave the bag to her. "Your crew, your conditions. I am just a delivery girl."

Robin didn't want to belittle Poke's status as the leader of her crew. She acted like a guest and waited patiently for her to divide the food instead. Poke's crew was probably her favorite out of all the children. Unfortunately they were also the crew that needed her help the most. Poke was a fair enough leader, and very kind, but that is what made her crew weak. They were not competitive enough on the streets, often leaving them with nothing. Robin had been the same way which is why she started her little thieving escapade. It was different though when you had a whole family doing it with you.

The children sat down with their portions and ate gratefully. After feasting a few children went over and hugged Robin, which is all she could ask for from them. She remembered being them. She remembered being that small and being picked on, any food stolen from her. She remembered the bruises, bite marks, neglect, and sometimes broken bones. Due to her bad knee, which was caused by the breaking and shattering of a much older child when she was little, none of the little kid crews would take her. They didn't want to waste food on somebody they didn't believe was going to make it in the first place.

Robin was not discouraged by the shaft the kids had given her. If anything, it made her stronger. She knew she had to train the rest of her body to compensate for the lack of mobility in her left knee. She searched around and found the best hiding places from the older kids, she trained herself to sleep with her eyes open, and she never took risks. The idea of stealing from better off people did not occur to her until a few years ago. Her observations of a young man that lived in a more prosperous point of town lead to the idea.

One day, the young man left his door unlocked. By this time Robin had become accustomed to his routine and knew he wouldn't be home for several hours. After a moment's hesitation, she cautiously went inside the apartment. Seeing all of the food inside, it made her stomach growl. She grabbed a pillowcase to make a sort of stack and began to take the food. She didn't take all of it though, she always left enough to not be too obvious. She still got away with a ton of food, more then there should have been for one person. She proceeded to run away the best she could with the sack then sat down and stared at her crime for a long while with big eyes.

Now of course she ate it herself, however the food was too big of quality for her. She had been starving without food for a while so she understood she couldn't try to shove it down her throat without puking it all back up. She walked around with the remainder of the food, that was still almost full in the pillowcase. She could always hide it, she figured, but then it will go bad before she finished it.

She came across a crew of small kids. Robin hid behind a corner and watched them a while. They were some of the smallest children. The youngest of the group was crying and couldn't even walk anymore, falling over. The other kids stopped and looked at him without pitying glances. They knew the pain of hunger and it was not new to them if this kid were to die from it. That didn't sit right with Robin though. She absolutely refused to watch someone else die out here.

That is when she understood how she could contribute. She walked out with the sack of food and took out a biscuit. She held it out to the boy, the other children looking at her in amazement, mouths watering at the sight of the food in her hand. The boy looked between her and the biscuit a few times before he snatched it away as if she would take back the offer at any moment. He chomped into it and began to swallow it almost whole.

"Hey… you'll just puke it back up if you eat it too fast." Robin advised him then looked at the rest of the children. She placed the sack down beside her feet. "I will leave this food on one condition." She knew she had their attention but she took a pause anyhow. "You all have to divide it equally. Nobody is to hog it all and nobody is to starve. There should be plenty for all of you, so don't be greedy." She waited until they all nodded then stepped back, crossing her arms. She observed as the leader hesitantly walked forward and picked up the sack.

"Equally." She reiterated with an almost demanding voice, seeing his muscles tense to run. He gulped then looked at the food. He turned to the other kids and began to distribute as she had instructed. The animalistic need was evident as they ate, but at least they were human to one another. Robin waited until everyone got their food then she casually walked away.

That is how Robin's 'charity work' began. She did the same thing with each crew in turn. She got to know everyone, and she set up her own personal schedule so that she never missed a crew.

Now here she stood a couple years later. All of the children knew her and she made it a point of knowing all of the children. She knew all of their names, she hung out with them all, she tried to protect them the best she could, and she felt like an older sister. She showed each crew a good hiding place from the bullies and she told them what to do if a bully demanded food from them. They always listened to her and a few would excitedly tell her when her advice had come in handy. It made her happy to have their trust. That was all she wanted in return was their kindness and trust.

"Thank you." Poke told her and Robin smiled.

"No problem sir." She knew Poke was a girl, but she also knew Poke didn't want her crew to know that, so Robin played along with her masculine role. She wasn't sure if Poke understood she was going along with it or if she thought Robin had fallen for it.

"Hey! You kids!" Crap. Robin looked over at girls that were obviously depending on their bodies to get around on these streets. They looked her age and she frowned at them.

"Oh look the food thief is with you. Well then this will be easy. You're on our territory, hand over some food and maybe we'll let you guys go with a warning." One of them snickered. Robin's eyes narrowed.

"You think this is _your_ territory do you?" Robin straightened her back and crossed her arms to show she was ready to pounce if needed.

"Of course it is. We've been working it for months now." The other girl rolled her eyes, not feeling threatened by Robin.

"Yeah well try living here a year and we'll see. This is Poke's territory. So I think _you_ owe _her_ some food." Robin dared to tell them. They hissed and were getting catty.

"Are you insane? Do you even know how these streets work tweetie?" The first girl snarled. Oh how Robin was sick of the bird jokes.

"Yeah! You want to fight about it?" the second girl pitched in.

"I just might." Robin's eyes narrowed. None of the girls had noticed that Poke had disappeared. They only noticed when Poke came back with a pastry.

"Here." She mumbled. Robin opened her mouth to protest but the girls took the pastry before a word could come out of her mouth. She then realized the pastry was not a part of the food she had brought them. It was stale and not that appetizing to look at. Her mouth clasped shut and she turned her back to them, only hearing their shrieks as they began to physically fight for the scrap after the first girl got greedy.

"Smart there Poke. You stash that from the last time I came?" she guessed. Poke nodded and she walked with Robin. They heard the scurrying of feet as the girls dispersed from the area, threat neutralized.

Robin nearly tripped over a new boy that she had never seen before as she was walking. She blinked and looked at him incredulously. He was tiny! He looked really young too. Was he a two year old?

Poke scowled at him as if she had seen him before. He was looking at them expectantly and Robin realized he must want food. "No, you little bastard, you're not getting nothing from me," Poke rejected blatantly."I'm not taking one bean out of the mouths of my crew, you aren't worth a bean."

Robin frowned hard and tugged sharply on Poke's hair. She gave a little ow mostly in surprise since it wasn't that hard. "Poke, do you not remember my conditions of the food?" she asked harshly.

"He ain't from my crew though!" she protested.

"I don't care. Don't be stingy and give him something." Robin ordered. Poke shook her head.

"No! You only said I had to give equally to my crew! This brat is almost dead anyhow!" she kept protesting, looking just as stubborn as Robin.

"Why did you give food to them?" the boy piped up again and the two girls looked down. "You need that food." He went on.

"Oh, excuse me!" said Poke. She raised her voice, so her crew could hear her. "I guess you ought to be the crew boss here, is that it? You being so big, you got no trouble keeping the food."

"Not me," The boy answered. "I'm not worth a bean, remember?" Robin raised an eyebrow at him. This was an odd boy, unlike the rest.

"Yeah, I remember. Maybe you ought to remember and shut up." Poke jeered back at him. Robin looked around in dismay as her crew laughed at him. She pushed out her lip in an angry pout and they shut up. The boy didn't seem fazed.

"Fine Poke. You don't want to get him food then I will go get him some food. I hope you realize how ashamed I am of you." Robin interrupted, shaking her head. Poke looked at her and her smirk faltered, seeing Robin was serious. She glanced back at the boy, knowing he couldn't make it there and back. He was suffering severe malnutrition; almost ready to die it seemed from hunger. "Wait here." She told him.

"I wasn't planning on leaving. I'm not done here." He simply stated, looking back at Poke to say something more. Robin shrugged and walked away before he could talk again. She carefully made her way back to her little hidey hole, removing the brick once more. She pulled out the remainder of the loaf and walked back a bit more slowly, feeling her knee give a small jolt of pain. She had been walking and moving around too much. She needed to rest when this was over.

She had been gone for quite a bit, having missed their whole conversation it seemed. Poke didn't seem as hostile as when she left, and the boy looked slightly pleased with himself. "I need something now." He pointed out matter of fact to her. Robin mused herself with her good timing and walked up and held out the bread to him.

"Then try this." She offered kindly. He looked at it.

"Don't hold so good." He again proved a fact. Robin crouched down to his height so he could bite into the bread. It was fresh, so it was soft enough for his minimal jaw strength to chew. He slowly chewed, visibly getting exhausted from the effort. She waited patiently despite the nagging pain in her knee from the position she was held in. She refused to make a sound as the pained tears glistened in the corners of her eyes, leg twitching.

The boy finished and he looked at her a long moment. It seemed he didn't trust her still. She smiled anyhow, not caring and slowly and painfully straightened back up. He then turned back to Poke and the two exchanged whispers, him glancing at her frequently. Was this a secret only for Poke?

The kid made his way over to a garbage can where she assumed he had made his little camp. "You ain't no four years old!" Sergeant, Poke's right hand man hence the name, shouted over to him. Robin cocked her head, dumbfounded. This kid was _four?_ How?

"I'm four but I'm just little!" he called back. Yeah, no kidding. He didn't look like a four year old at all, let alone be tall enough to pass as one. She watched him descend into his base then eyed Poke.

"Well you two buddied up quick." She observed out loud.

"I just gave him a name is all." Poke shrugged, ignoring that Robin could tell something was up.

"And what's his new name?" she inquired.

"Bean." Robin's shoulders sagged a bit at this new knowledge. Could they have picked a more demeaning name?

"Alright then… Bean…" she sighed, letting the name roll off her tongue. She didn't really like it, but the damage had been done. She looked at the sky, it was starting to get dark, the most dangerous time out on the streets of Rotterdam. "Well kids I've gotta go my own way now. See you later kids." Some of the kids whined in protest but she just smiled and waved. Time to head back to her makeshift home.

She walked nearly to the outskirts of the city, a place not many people came, but was just by the river so she could watch the boats and sit by or even in the water if she so chose. There was a wedge in some building rubble a person her size could squeeze through, and inside was a mini clearing where she kept some ratty old blankets she had found out of the garbage and one torn up but still very usable dog bed. The inanimate objects were not the only thing there this time though.

"Hey little birdie, sing me a song." Laughed Achilles, sitting on her bed, giving his usual greeting. He often came here and slept in the tiny space with her. They felt safe together and she didn't want him to get jumped because he was outside wandering alone all night.

"You know, that phrase is starting to get old." She put her hands on her hips, setting her mouth in a thin line and furrowing her eyebrows. He kept smiling at her and her face softened again with a sigh. "I guess whatever floats your boat."

"Did you eat your bread?" he asked and laid down on the bed. She sat down next to him, a small pained sound escaping and she rubbed her knee. He propped up on one elbow and rubbed her knee for her.

"Yeah…" she lied, not meeting his gaze, watching his hand rub her knee. His hand paused and went back down as he looked at her, frowning.

"Robin why didn't you eat it?" Why was he so good at seeing through her?

"There was one more kid than usual, just wanted to make sure he ate." She explained.

"Robin you can't-"

"Achilles he was gonna die!" she interrupted with a stubborn protest.

"So? That's normal." He said firmly. She flinched and looked back at her feet.

"I don't care if it's normal. I won't just sit and watch it happen anymore." She wrapped her arms around her knees.

"Hey Birdie…" his voice was more sympathetic now and he grabbed her shoulder comfortingly. She looked at him, resting her chin on her arms. "You need to rest I think… And eat. Tomorrow we'll find you something." He promised and moved slightly so she could lie down beside him.

She grudgingly laid next to him and he hugged her loosely, pulling the blanket over them. "Maybe we can get into the soap kitchen tomorrow." She thought out loud and he nodded, closing his eyes.

"Maybe…" he groggily murmured. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes. She was used to this pain of hunger, so it wasn't so hard to fall asleep with it. The hard part was clearing her mind enough in order to.

It took some effort but after some time and only focusing on Achilles breathing, and small snore since he had long since fallen asleep, she finally drifted off. Unaware of the sinister plot that was brewing ahead.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
